Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Old vs Young Pro Matches

A couple of days ago, I posted some pics of a David-vs-Goliath type match between Chris Masters and Bu Ko Dao (see Double Post: Pick On Someone Your Own Size/Moonlighting). In that post, I also asked if there were any fans of this type of match and a few beefcake aficionados said yes, they did enjoy seeing big wrestlers tear into much smaller opponents. Aside from this, what other type of matches do you enjoy watching? How about "Father-vs-Son" type matches, i.e., older pro vs young pro or veteran vs newcomer? Here are some pics of such a match (these British wrestlers were only identified as Finlay and Collins; does anyone know what their full names are?). What do you think of this gimmick? (All photos by Tony Knox)

9 comments:

These men have met at least twice. At first I thought that it might be Fit Finlay, but any photo of him would disabuse you of that notion. This is their most recent match. The younger fellow is Finlay:

They've met exactly twice. One draw, one win for Finlay. Collins has been wrestling since 1983, Finlay since 2012. His grandfather, father (the aforesaid Fit), an uncle and an aunt are all wrestlers. Collins has wrestled Fit. I wish you could see the Cagematch thumbnails of Collins that show him at different points of his career. He always looked hot.

Collins and Fit wrestled three times. One draw and two wins for the elder Finlay. Collins doesn't have a good record against Fnlays.

More than most genres of matches, it depends on the who. Age vs. Youth, for me requires that Age be fit (flabby or tired looking won't do) and Youth can't be a jobber. The photo and their history show that this one works for me.

I, generally, prefer heroic underdogs. But there is too often a kind of unreality (in wrestling, why am I surprised?) to some of their victories.

NHW had a wrestler who started out as a jobber, then he started to win on occasion, then he did a heel turn and afterwards he almost never lost. A handsome guy, well-built, skilled. But he was usually outmatched in size. Sometimes by a lot. A foot or more in height, 30-50 pounds. But incredibly, he still won.

Now, being on the short side myself, I didn't mind an occasional upset of expectations. However, this was taking fantasy too far. I began to resent the dude. I later learned he was one of the founders of the page. Obviously, he was writing his own scripts.

In the wider context, it's often heels with disadvantages (not just in size or experience) who are granted undeserved wins. Particularly at RHW, there are three guys who just have totally unrealistic W/L records. Wrestling exploits fantasy and to a degree wish fulfillment. But after a certain point, credulity gets badly strained. At least for me.